Design an Online Advertising Platform

Functional Requirements

1. User Registration and Authentication

   • Allow advertisers and publishers to create accounts.
   • Implement secure login and authentication mechanisms.

2. Ad Creation and Management

   • Enable advertisers to create, edit, and delete ad campaigns.
   • Support various ad formats (e.g., text, image, video).
   • Provide targeting options based on demographics, interests, and location.

3. Ad Display and Delivery

   • Serve ads to users based on targeting criteria.
   • Ensure ads are displayed in the correct format and placement.
   • Implement real-time bidding for ad placements.

4. Performance Tracking and Reporting

   • Track ad impressions, clicks, and conversions.
   • Provide detailed analytics and reports to advertisers.
   • Support A/B testing for ad campaigns.

5. Billing and Payment Processing

   • Calculate costs based on impressions, clicks, or conversions.
   • Support multiple payment methods (e.g., credit card, PayPal).
   • Generate invoices and handle refunds.

6. Fraud Detection and Prevention

   • Identify and prevent click fraud and other malicious activities.
   • Implement machine learning models to detect anomalies.

7. User Feedback and Support

   • Provide a feedback mechanism for users to report issues.
   • Offer customer support through chat or email.

Non-Functional Requirements

1. Scalability

   • The platform should handle a large number of concurrent users and ad requests.
   • Support horizontal scaling to accommodate traffic spikes.

2. Performance

   • Ensure low latency in ad delivery and real-time bidding.
   • Optimize database queries and API responses for speed.

3. Reliability and Availability

   • Achieve high availability with minimal downtime.
   • Implement redundancy and failover mechanisms.

4. Security

   • Protect user data and transactions with encryption.
   • Implement robust access control and data privacy measures.

5. Data Consistency and Integrity

   • Ensure accurate tracking and reporting of ad metrics.
   • Maintain data integrity across distributed systems.

6. Extensibility

   • Design the system to easily incorporate new ad formats and features.
   • Support integration with third-party tools and services.

7. Cost Efficiency

   • Optimize resource usage to minimize operational costs.
   • Implement cost-effective storage and processing solutions.